What do I do when low on Cricket Adrenaline ?

Team India are the reigning World Champions in ODI Cricket.

We also have the World No. 1 Test Team since over a year.

IPL attracts more eyeballs than most of the International series.

Rahul Sharma and Sreenath Aravind have bowled with promise.

Ambati Rayudu and Paul Valthaty have enlivened the proceedings.

Shane Warne believes Rohit Sharma is a Master in the making.

Tendulkar is still hungry for runs and Dravid isn’t finished either.

Virat Kohli is batting well and shows guts as Captain of men.

Sehwagging reached epitome before he was shouldered out.

Gambhir is taking both Captaincy and his name too seriously.

Ashish Nehra continues to recover from one injury after another.

Yuvi continues to prove he is a different player in Indian Colors.

Munaf bowled well till he lost his head and match to Amit Mishra.

Sreesanth excels as Sreesanth and bowls 5 good balls in an over.

Bhajji hasn’t slapped Sree and called Symonds a Gentleman… Man !

So much happening and Mumbai Indians choking before the Finals !

So much of action, fun and excitement has not really excited me. Why ?

Why am I dormant compared to my normal over-talkative standards ?

Very often this happens to me during those never-ending ODI series.

Every single IPL season, I have felt it as it comes to the business end.

Tendulkar may be God to millions and many who don’t believe in God.

Sehwag may be the most destructive batsman in all forms of Cricket.

Gayle may have redefined the IPL Batsmanship taking it to a new height.

I realized something today. I am going through a trough in Crickinterest.

I realized today that I am missing something, rather missing someone !

Fortunately I know what to do when I feel so low on Cricket Adrenaline…

I just watch THIS !

PS: I can sit through an entire day and then through the night watching VVS bat with the tail in tow than suffer some of that ‘Cricket’ played by the likes of Sunny Sohal and Manish Pandey; the Masters of Inelegance !

Govind Raj Shenoy for DieHard Cricket Fans

Point to Fine Leg : Modern Woman’s Guide to Cricket

Have you ever wondered what the heck cricket is all about?

Perhaps your man is a cricketer. He is dying to take you to a game to impress you but you fear looking clueless in front of his mates.

Maybe it’s not about a bloke at all.

You have been sucked in to the hype of the Ashes and the World Cup or seduced by the razzmatazz of Twenty20 and want to know about the game that is loved by hundreds of millions of men and women around the world.

Maybe your case is the other way around. You wish your girl-friends or girlfriend understood the game and enjoyed the matches along with you rather than annoying you by not letting you watch it?

The book “Point to Fine Leg” authored by Stacey Harris is an attempt to provide a solution to help you out in such scenarios.

Story behind the book:

This is what Stacey has to say on as to how she developed love for the game and what propelled her to write this wonderful book.

“For me it all started in 2005 when I stumbled upon the greatest cricket match of all time. I was a football fan. My Dad thought I might be interested in the tense conclusion of the Edgbaston Ashes match. It changed my life as I was gripped by the epic battle of supreme athletes unfold in front of me.

From the moment England scraped over the line cricket became exciting, sexy and addictive.

I wish when I started my journey into cricket that I had this eBook. It would have made learning about cricket so much easier than reading stuffy Rule of Cricket books. So I wrote it.

It’s the perfect eBook for all the women around the world who want to give cricket a chance but have no idea where to start.”

Written in an accessible, fun style from the perspective of women you will learn all the important stuff about the game; like how to know what’s going on and what to wear to the match!

The eBook is designed to look and feel like a glossy magazine and includes articles like:

• The 10 Commandments of Cricket Watching
• 10 Reasons Your Man is Having a Hissy Fit
• When Do We Clap?
• 12 Glamorous (and No-Nonsense) Things to Take to a Match
• Why Cricketers are Like Movie Stars
• How to Score With a Cricketer
• Better than Average: How to Measure a Cricketer’s Performance
• 5 Fantastic Cricket Grounds (and Their Beaches) to Visit
• 11 Reasons to Watch Cricket On TV
• Names and Facts to Make You Look Like a Cricket Badass

And of course, like all magazines there is the compulsory quiz to find out just what kind of cricket fan you have become.

When you buy this eBook you will know everything you need to blag your way at any cricket match, from a Twenty20 match on TV through your boyfriend’s village match all the way up to a Test match at the ground on a blazing hot summer day.

To buy the book visit this site, click on Stacey Harris’ pic in the ‘Freelance Coaching Panel’ and click “BUY” n follow instructions.

Stacey’s Blog
Stacey on Twiter

What will get you the Team India Cap?

Less than a month is left for India’s tour of the Caribbean. It’s going to be a lot of Cricket for the Indian team in months to come. Right after the IPL Indian team flies to West Indies for 1 T-20 I, 5 ODIs and 3 Test matches and from there the flight takes off to England for 4 Tests, 2 T-20Is and 5 ODIs. This is surely going to get hectic for the Men in Blue. But BCCI should be given credit for their correct and systematic planning for the tours. Where India after long IPL start WI tour with T-20 match followed by 5 ODI’s and then 3 Test matches and then England tour starts with Test Matches and then followed by T-20s and ODIs. So there is complete planning which would benefit Team India on their tours. The selection committee led by Kris Srikkanth is scheduled to meet on Friday along with captain MS and coach Fletcher to decide on the team that will play T-20 and ODIs in WI.

There are stories going around that many Indian players have asked for rest after a long World Cup and a longer IPL. Players like MS Dhoni, Zaheer Khan, Sachin Tendulkar and Virendar Sehwag are surely not getting into that plane to WI for initial part of the tour. Whereas Gautam Gambhir is looked upon to lead the side having World Cup winning members like Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Munaf Patel and Harbhajan Singh. So this actually gives chance to many young players to make a mark at International level. This would be the ideal chance for youngsters to get into the Team as it’s going to be difficult to break into the full strength Indian team after the WC win.

So this starts the biggest ever debate of whom should be selected and who should be dropped. Everyone as always have their own view on this. A lot of debate is happening and has happened on this topic. So let me fuel this debate a little further by giving my side of the debate. Rather than on who should be selected I would like to discuss what should be the criteria for selection in Team India.

Should only IPL be the criteria for the selection or only Ranji cricket should be the criteria.

I am of an opinion that the neither should be the sole criteria for Team India cap. IPL is part of Indian domestic circuit just like other tournaments like Ranji Super League, Ranji Trophy Plate, Deodhar Trophy, Duleep Trophy, Challenger Trophy, Irani Cup, Syed Musthaq Ali Trophy, BCCI Corporate Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy. The performance over the entire season should be made the bench mark for Team India cap rather than just the performance in one tournament. Our domestic tournament has good mix of four day matches, One Day matches and T-20 Matches, so it gives an ample opportunity for a player to prove his worth and helps him to prove his case for the prestigious Team India Cap. If IPL is considered a yardstick for Team India Cap  then consistency over the entire IPL should be considered rather than one, two or four good performances in IPL.

Someone like Rahul Sharma has been performing very well for his IPL side PWI but if you see his performance over the entire season it isn’t much inspiring. Players like Subramanium Badrinath, Manoj Tiwary and Ambati Rayadu who have performed well in the entire season and have performed well in all the domestic tournaments for their respective teams should be considered the front runners.

A player should be consistent over a period of time rather than just for one tournament. Even International Cricket works on consistency rather than one tournament success For E.g.: A team winning one tournament does not make them the number one team in international cricket, to be number one, a team needs to consistently play well like Team India won the World Cup 2011 does not make them the number one team because may be some other team has been more consistent than them and similarly like Team India is number one in tests it’s not  that they have been ranked number one after one series they have consistently won matches around the globe to deserve that place of number one team in tests. Even the individual rankings work the same way. Playing well in one tournament gives you points but overall performance along the year is of much more importance. I somehow feel BCCI should start with local rankings, ranking players according to their performance over the period that will help to have a better view of the performance of local talent. I haven’t used much statistics to put forth my point because it would have made it long, and longer the post it’s considered to be boring.

IPL has also proved one thing or rather has proved many people wrong. People feel , shorter the version of the game more exciting it is, but the number of one sided matches in IPL proves even the shortest version of the game can be boring. I have observed 2 reasons for the one sided matches in IPL, may be I will use my next post to give my views on why we are having so many one sided matches in IPL 2011.

Ricky Singh for DieHard Cricket Fans

Pieces of Meat, a TIPLIST and LIPLOCKS : The IPL Rocks as always

IPL qualifiers reaching towards climax. Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru look like the teams to go further. But Cricket isn’t the only thing about IPL and IPL isn’t all about Cricket. We know it is GLICKET ! So here is a random look at who, what, when and how !

Pieces of meat, a Tiplist

Gabriella Pasqualotto was another unknown cheer girl till she spilled the beans about the virility of the naughty Cricketers. In a world of Glamor and Cricket that is GLICKET, I am least surprised. If at all, it shows the Indians like Dhoni and Rohit Sharma in poor light. Because she said, “They prefer to spend time by themselves in the dark corners”.

Beauty and the Tiplist

The Season of GLICKET Liplocks

They are together, they are not. She was with someone else and he was caught red-handed with another girl. What all rumors ! Sid Mallya and Deepika Padukone answered all rumors with the only way they could and people still complain.

LIPLOCK-1 of the Season !

LIPLOCK-2 of the Season !

Shane Warne: “They Hurled stones at me. I converted them into Hurley and then she locked lips”

The Latest on Fixing

* This paragraph of the story is fixed by, oops sponsored by Fevicol *

Coming again to Warne. After Match-fixing and Spot-fixing, Warne alleged the CSK Boss did ‘Pitch Fixing’ favoring his team at Jaipur. Later he twitracted his statement. Earlier he was unhappy with Tendulkar’s comments on Jaipoor pitch ! Shane’s swan song is turning out to be a blare and that is unfortunate.

Royal Challenge Re-Gayled

RCB Challenge in this IPL was going nowhere till Mallya hit the jackpot thanks to West Indies Cricket Board. As West Indies Cricket Ails, Royal Challenge Re-Gayles ! Some people have even suggested a possibility of the King of Good times bribing the Caribbean establishment to drop Gayle.

Drop till you Flop

You drop Sehwag once and you pay for it. You drop him twice and you will be thrice Sehwagged ! The Chargers ran out of charge as Viru went on the rampage !

Shane Warne tweeted:

warne888 Shane Warne

me dropping gayle cost us big time-then dropping kholi as well = horror for us. Thanks for the last 4 yrs of support guys,will miss u all !!

It still wasn’t as costly as it is turning out to be for the WICB after they dropped Gayle !
I believe I must stop here. Else I might end up like Shikar Dhawan, the man who always takes his own time to settle down before getting out soon after !

Govind Raj Shenoy for DieHard Cricket Fans

West Indies vs Pakistan – The Series That Wasn’t

It was almost as if it never happened. The Pakistani’s quietly took away a 3-2 victory over the West Indies, and with a minimum of fuss and exposure, we will move on to the test series soon. Blink and you’d have missed it, particularly since cricket headlines have been surrounded with “Gayle Smashes Unbelievable Ton!” and the like.

But lets wonder for a minute, what if both the West Indies and Pakistan had picked the absolute best teams available to them? What if the cricket world was free of injuries, the IPL, spot fixing, and dodgy selections?

And the odd spontaneous trip to London. © Associated Press

The Real Pakistan

1. Salman Butt (c)
2. Mohammad Hafeez
3. Ahmed Shahzad
4. Mohammad Yousuf
5. Misbah Ul-Haq
6. Shahid Afridi
7. Abdul Razzaq
8. Zulqarnain Haider (w)
9. Mohammad Aamir
10. Umar Gul
11. Mohammad Asif

Unlucky: Saeed Ajmal, very good backup at least.
Unwanted: The trigger happy Akmals and Younis Khan, who looks more and more weary all the time.

Look at that bowling line-up, easily the best in the world in fact if they fielded that squad. Afridi is a little over animated (if there is such a thing) as captain, and would prefer Butt to take the reins.

The Real West Indies

1. Chris Gayle (c)
2. Adrian Barath
3. Darren Bravo
4. Ramnaresh Sarwan
5. Shiv Chanderpaul
6. Kieron Pollard
7. Dwayne Bravo
8. Devon Thomas (w)
9. Kemar Roach
10. Jerome Taylor
11. Devendra Bishoo

Unlucky: Darren Sammy. I like the guy, but he just doesn’t quite contribute enough, more like a poor man’s Vettori at this stage. Fidel Edwards, Ravi Rampaul and Andre Russell wait in the wings as adequate backup. I like Dwayne Smith, he could slot in as a backup Pollard, who I don’t like but admit has talent.

Unwanted: Suliemann Benn, full marks for attitude, but not much for impact.

No extra points for tossing players around either. © Getty

Who would win that series? It doesn’t matter! Look at those line-ups, and even if Pakistan came away 3-2 just like it transpired, the matches would have been infinitely more interesting than what looked like a Pakistan A tour of West Indies A. We would have the dream bowling attack versus the most colorful and explosive batting line-up.

Of the teams listed, only four from either side were in the current teams. In a perfect world the players would be free of politics, greed and corruption, and we would be treated to cricket at its highest quality.

Too bad then that we don’t live in a perfect world.

Contributed by Varun Prasad
Original Post : The Cricket Musings

Time to test the Bench – 2 : Realignment of Stars !

A lot of DLF maximums, Karbonn Kamaal Catches and Citi Bank moments of Success after the “Time to test the bench” post, have forced me to make changes in my Team for the ODI Series in the Caribbean.

So here is my ODI Team for the West Indies Tour ! This is open for further updating till 13 May, the D-Day for the selection.

Who is out and why ?

Ravindra Jadeja will have to wait. Though he isn’t bad, someone better has come up.
Robin Uthappa remains the flash in the pan man. He has disappointed.
R. P. Singh has flattered to deceive. Will need a little more effort to make the cut.

1] Gautam Gambhir [Captain - He remains firmly there in spite of patchy form]
2] Paul Valthaty [In spite of indifferent form, he is in for the X-Factor]
3] Ambati Rayudu [He has proved his credentials. Needs support]
4] Virat Kohli [We know there isn't a better No. 3 right now]
5] Yuvraj Singh [Yuvi in India Colors is different player and we love him]
6] Suresh Raina [We don't have a better floater. A certainty]
7] Rohit Sharma [Done better since the last post and can't deny his talent]
8] Yusuf Pathan [IPL batting form getting better. He deserves a place in the 11]
9] Parthiv Patel [The Wicket Keeper. Continues to show utility]
10] Ishant Sharma [He has been good and improved. No doubt he is Future !]
11] Munaf Patel [I don't like his fielding. But the truth is he is bowling well]
12] Rahul Sharma [Most economical Bowler in this IPL deserves a look]
13] R. Ashwin [Though not great, he has been good. A better 50 overs bowler]
14] Vinay Kumar [Continues to work hard. Deserves to be support bowler]
15] Praveen Kumar [Needed for the street-smart experience]

The 11 for the First ODI

1] Gambhir
2] Valthaty
3] Virat
4] Yuvi
5] Raina
6] Yusuf
7] Parthiv
8] Ashwin
9] Rahul Sharma
10] Ishant
11] Munaf

There is a flimsy possibility of any more changes coming up in my team. But as the saying goes, Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties.

On Saturday, May 7, a youngster gave a professional verdict, “Sir, Isn’t Prasanth Parameswaran a great prospect ? Isn’t heMUCH BETTER than Sreesanth ? I think we should drop Sreesanth and bring in this boy. He is too good.”

I told him, “I think it is too early. He was lucky with a no-ball that got Sehwag. You can’t judge one bowler after 8 overs and say he is better than a bowler who has 70 Test wickets from 21 tests. Let us wait for Prasanth to perform consistently”.

Prasanth Parameswaran broke Stuart Broad’s record for maximum runs in an over on Sunday, May 8.

Govind Raj Shenoy for DieHard Cricket Fans